He Owed It to Jack
by JeanieBeanie33
Summary: Hard to describe. I experimented with the bold, italic, and underlined fonts here. The day that Will rescued Captain Jack from the gallows was a day that changed him forever.


Disclaimer: A little birdie told me I owned Pirates of the Caribbean. Then it demanded the money I promised to give it if it said that.

Author's Note: Just a little exploration into the use of _italics_, **bold**, underline, and the any combinations of the factors listed above. Be afraid, but don't let that restrain you from reading and reviewing! Or at least wait from running in fear until _after_ you've read and reviewed. Please? As a New Years gift? With Jack Sparrow/Will Turner/James Norrington/Cutler Beckett/Davy Jones (depends on whichever you prefer) on top, although they're probably gagged? (Okay, I'll shut up now; I'm in a weird mood, so please forgive me).

**He Owed It to Jack...**

"_On return to Port Royal I granted you clemency, and this is how you thank me? By throwing in your lot with him? _He's a pirate_!"_

"_And a good man!"_

He'd finally said it, right after rescuing Captain Jack Sparrow, a convicted criminal and pirate, from the gallows. This day had possibly been the best one of his life: he told Elizabeth he loved her, and a fog, one that had clouded his brain and turned it into a convoluted mush regarding right and wrong, had finally been lifted.

_He_ owed it to _Jack_!

For so long he had thought that right and wrong was as simple as black and white. On the recent adventure with Barbossa, wherein he'd also fought for his life and his love and had discovered the truth about his father, that simple balance (where pirates and anything associated with it was wrong, and the royal navy and anything associated with it and Port Royal was right) had been shaken, destroyed…_fallen_.

**He** owed it to **Jack**?

Captain Jack had confused him from the start. At first he'd thought Jack was a godless, heathen pirate-scallywag, bent on wreaking havoc (he'd been somewhat right). Then he'd thought Jack was trying to use Will and trade him for the _Black Pearl_ (which was also true, to some degree). Then he thought that he didn't care about anything, even Elizabeth, only his beloved _Pearl_. That last one, he'd been completely wrong. Jack had saved Elizabeth and him, even when he didn't have to. He could've gone along with Barbossa, maybe, if he'd really wanted to, and for a moment he **had** thought that Jack would let him get killed and follow that path – but he hadn't. He'd realized that Jack had always planned on keeping him and Elizabeth safe, if he could – and if there wasn't a way, he'd _make_ a way. He'd realized that you could be a good man, and yet still do whatever means necessary to get what you wanted, even if it was illegal.

He owed it to Jack.

He realized that you could be a good man and still be a pirate, like Jack had said about his father. He'd been chewing over that all the way back to Port Royal, in between times when he wasn't chewing over on whether Elizabeth loved him or not or if he had, in fact, killed his father because he lifted the curse. Right after he'd seen Cotton's parrot, his confusion was lifted. Jack was a good man, as well as a pirate, because it was just that. Jack _admitted_ he was a pirate; he **admitted** he was honestly dishonest (or dishonestly honest; he hadn't quite figured out all of Jack's little speech in the cave before he'd shown his true colors); he admitted he wasn't 'good' in the sense that society viewed 'good' as; he **_admitted_** he was self-centered and selfish and caring (in an offhand way) and flamboyant and a complete **rebel** to society's rules and propriety. He made the idea of laws and 'good society' seem beneath him – he **_rejected_** laws and 'good society'! And he didn't care! Jack didn't hide from it, or deny it! _That_ was why he was a good man; most supposed 'good' men were in fact as dishonest as Jack but hid it behind a proper and 'honest' façade. Jack accepted it, was proud of it, loved it, and – if one believes it, which he can – positively _thrived_ on it. He was honest, in that way, because he didn't deny who he was. Will realized that to be truly honest you had to be who you really were, say what you really wanted to say with all the burning desire in your body (_"I should've told you every day from the moment I met you…I love you"_).

_He_ _owed_ it to Jack?!

You had to not care if people liked it. You had to do what you _felt_ was right, not what you were _told_ was right. You had to sometimes do the hard thing in order to do the right thing.

"…_You forget your place, Turner…"_

He _owed_ it to _Jack_!?

Most of all, he realized where he really belonged, after all…

"…_It's right here…between you and Jack."_

_He_ owed it to **Jack**!(.)?


End file.
